Category Archives: CD Review

EP Review: Havok – The Point Of No Return

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Following their album Time Is Up, Denver thrash mettalers Havok return this month with a heavy EP consisting of two original tracks and two covers, one of those covers is of Sepultura’s classic, Alive. A strong cover which does them and Sepultura justice.

Havok are a strong band who are technically brilliant, they focus their ability not on the melodical but on the rhythmic aspects of their music. Producing excellent music that puts a spotlight on the drum and bass sections, creating a type of thrash we rarely get to experience.

Opening with Point of no Return, a rhythm heavy track with a stand out guitar solo that holds reminiscent of early Dave Mustaine. From The Cradle To The Grave is a hard and heavy rhythm track with sneering vocals and a baseline that will tear through you.

Their final cover is Slayer’s Postmortem/Raining Blood again well executed with a strong rhythm angle to the track. These covers are a band playing homage to bands they respect, and they have covered them well.

Currently on tour throughout Europe with 3 Inches Of Blood this is a band worth checking out!

The Point Of No Return is released May 14th on Candlelight Records

Album Review: HeXen – Being and Nothingness

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After a four year wait HeXen return with a new album Being and Nothingness. This is a band who have now been around for almost a decade and hit the nail on the head with their debut album State of Insurgency. This is their follow up to this debut, it may have been a long time coming but these guys have put their heart and soul into making the album exactly what they wanted it to be.

The album artwork leads you to expect something more symphonic in nature than their more thrash history suggests. Opener Macrocosm does nothing to dispell this assumption being a very symphonic metal instrumental track which only leans towards thrash towards the end of it’s two and a half minutes.

However, the start of Grave New World the second track certainly sets the record straight as it is a punchy progressive thrash style with all of the elements followers of HeXen would expect to hear with the guitar solo’s, grinding vocals and hungry drum work.

The musicianship here is outstanding, everything fits together perfectly with the melodic nature of the tracks perfectly atuned to ensure an optimum listening experience. It is completely evident that this band consists of well trained individuals who are pooling their training with their love of the genre to create perfectly executed music.

What this lacks as a result however, is the rawness, most music in this genre contains a rawness gained from musicians being self-taught and not having the training that would make the music perfect. That lacks here because everything is so perfectly executed. I’d like a bit more raw passion and a little less perfection.

This is a good album, the quality of the musicianship here is to be admired, and it gives you a taste of what perfection in thrash can sound like. It also makes you glad thrash is what it is without the perfection.

Being and Nothingness is released on 14th May by Pulverised Records